Moonlit Shadow
by Satirical Prose
Summary: The night was dark, pressing on the forest with it's gloom broken only by the pale face of the full moon; it's wane light and her suddenly over active imagination giving new, sinister life to the surrounding shadows. All was still and silent...


The night was dark, pressing on the forest with it's gloom broken only by the pale face of the full moon; it's wane light and her suddenly over active imagination giving new, sinister life to the surrounding shadows. Hinata pressed her hands firmly together, clasping them in front of her in a vain attempt to quell their trembling as she cast worried glances at the over grown trees around the path. All around her was still and silent... deceptively still and silent causing the fine hair on the back of her neck to stand up. She had never traveled so far into the forest (she had never had the need to before now) much less done so alone and at night, but she knew better then to believe this clever rouse of peace.

She whirled around, hair whipping dark tendrils across her cheek, ears straining desperately for even the slightest sound of a nocturne animal moving about the forest.

Nothing.

Nothing but her own haggard breath rattling so loudly in her ears and the muted crunch of gravel and earth below her boots grinding with each uncertain, stumbling step. There was nothing moving around... or rather there was one creature about that scared the other, more benign animals away.

Raising her quaking fingertips to her lips, she swallowed hard. "I... I know you're there..." she whispered, her quiet words harsh in the silence before fleeing into the moon and shadow soaked forest.

The silence grew stiller.

Hinata exhaled, her breath shimmering silver in the chilled fall air. A tremor ran up her spine. She couldn't help but feel as if she was a child once more, clutching fiercely to her cousin's hand as their grandmother told them tales of near indescribable horrors that snatched up unsuspecting little girls and ate their souls, rather then a young woman blessed with both common sense and intellect. She shivered, pulling her cloak tighter around her form as she suddenly wondered if she should be weary of something trying to snatch her own soul, the tales her grandmother had spun long ago, racing through her mind.

Once upon a time, the story always began, there was a girl from a village not at all unlike hers. Despite warnings she had heard all of her life, the girl ventured out into the forest, and promptly found herself to be hopelessly lost. She wondered around for hours till night fell and the girl collapsed in a heap on the ground, crying so loudly that she soon attracted the attention of a traveling demon. The demon, being as clever as he was cruel, quickly deduced why the lone girl was sniveling in the forest and devised a sinister plan.

_"Hello there,"_ the demon greeted, approaching her from the shadows. _"Are you lost?"_

The girl nodded, telling him her story as she burst in to tears. Clucking his tongue, the demon feigned sympathy, saying he would be more then happy to take her home, but he was already so tired from his own journey... Then, the demon grinned and said, _"Oh, I know! I can lead you home and then you can invite me into your home so that I might rest up in a warm bed rather then the cold forest floor, and finish my journey to my own home."_

The girl nodded her enthusiasm, eager for a way out of the forest.

_"Do you swear it?"_

Once more, the foolish girl nodded her head, striking up a solemn vow with the demon that she would invite him into her home.

The demon was, of course, true to his word and ever inconspicuous as he quickly lead the girl home. Once there, the girl entered the home before him, holding the door open wide as she bade him to enter. The demon's jovial grin grew wicked as he, too, enter the home; his teeth elongating and eyes flashing red. He closed the door behind him before turning on the girl's family with a feral warning. _"You should have known better then to trust a demon, little girl."_

And with that, the demon descended on the family, the girl watching in horror as he devoured them, one by one.

Many hours later, a brave young man tried to rescue the girl, but by then, it was too late; he found her body on the floor, her skin stained red with blood. Thus, the brave young man swore to vanquish the demon. Some argue that he did so, others say that he only managed to banish it back to the forest, but none argue that he only managed to do so at the cost of his own life.

Hinata shivered. Suddenly, she felt a new rush of empathy for the nameless heroine of the tragic fairy tale... Even if their situations did have a rather significant difference; the girl in the story found the demon on accident and was tricked. She was purposefully searching for it.

"And... I'm not afraid of yah-you..." she whispered, the bold words holding very little conviction as they shook as violently as her form. She held her breath in fearful anticipation, waiting in the stillness as she silently repeated her mantra of _"I am not afraid. I am not afraid. I am..."_

Nothing.

Hinata exhaled, her shoulders nearly drooping with relief and disappointment. Nothing was around, it was all her imagination. There wasn't any mythical demons haunting the forest, with their powers to grant wishes at a terrible price. She wouldn't have to pay that price, but her wish... Her family...

She sniffled, blinking back bitter hot tears as she collapsed on her knees; their last resort, fruitless. To go home empty handed, knowing that...

"Hello, there."

Hinata froze, her heart leaping violently into her throat. Her entire body began to quake as she turned on her knees, even as her mind tried to argue not to look, to run. But, look she did, her hands going clammy as she found herself staring up at a man... no, not a man; it couldn't be a man despite his frame and well designed face or even the locks of blonde hair framing said face. No, she realized, her wide pale eyes fixed on his bright red gaze.

His mouth opened and Hinata attempted to back away, succeeding only in sprawling backwards, tangled in the layers of her dress and cloak.

"Are you lost?"

* * *

><p><em>an._

_This is a teaser, gasp! Terrible, I know, but I couldn't help it. I'm not entirely sure if this twisted fairy tale idea of mine would be... well, enjoyed. And, as this is my first story on here, I admit I might be a bit... nervous? So I thought I would test the waters to see if anyone would be interested in reading Moonlit Shadows. In other words, review if you like, don't review if you don't; I'll get the idea either way. _

_Thanks for reading and your (pending) support!  
><em>


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